Modernity or bust

It’s official: work can kill
You might be of the opinion that a little hard work never hurt anyone, but this old saying is wearing thin. Tokyo interiors fitter Nobuo Miuro, quite literally, popped his work boots in the middle of a 17-hour shift: a Japanese coroner returned a verdict of death by overwork. It’s a phenomenon that has become so common in Japan (where a typical office worker can leave home at 7am only getting back after 11pm) that they even have their own word for it: ‘karoshi’.

Karoshi has yet to make it as a buzzword in current British usage, but that’s not to say that long hours and work related stress aren’t taking their toll on us here. Self-reported health problems in the past 12 months by people in the UK working 48 hours or more have included mental exhaustion (54%), difficulty sleeping (43%) and run the gamut from chronic headaches and irritable bowel syndrome to ulcers and drug or alcohol problems.

The weird thing is that not all of this mayhem is brought about because we work for Scrooge-style bosses, keen to keep us working even on Christmas day.

Deborah, is the marketing director of a major fashion outlet. She regularly burns the midnight oil but has few regrets. ‘I did begin to worry a bit when they moved the chocolate vending machine right outside my office door. Apparently I get through more Kit Kats in one week than the entire second floor get through in a month. But other than not having a particularly healthy diet and probably drinking more coffee than is good for me, I really love my job.’

But there’s another reason Deborah says she works so hard. ‘Most offices are still a little macho,’ she says. ‘Being a woman I feel that I have to work even harder than the men if I want to be taken seriously.’ Deborah believes that for women to succeed in the workplace they have to shoulder more than their fair share of the workload, but she’s adamant that her efforts are being rewarded.

‘In recognition of my hard work I was given a really swish Alfa Romeo as my company car and they’re talking about giving me a posting in Italy next year.’ Lucky Deborah! Italians, according to the TUC, only work an average of 38.5 hours every week.

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